The Portland daily press., 1887-01-19
SACCHARIN.
An Alleged Wonderful Substitute for
Sugar.
New York Evening Posi-.

A company has lately been formed in Lon
don and Antwerp for the manufacture of
saccharin, the newly discovered substitute
for sugar, and before long, if the claims made
for it are established, it will undoubtedly
cause vast stir in the sugar industry. Sac
charm, which is technically known as an
rous-orthosulphamine benzoic acid, was
discovered about seven years ago by DR..
Constantine Fahlberg, German-American
of this city. Like great many other impor-
tant discoveries in the chemical line, its
discovery was accidental, and in a talk of DR..
Fahlbergh with Mr.. Lassing, the editor of
the American Analyst, he said in relation to
it: 81 had been working for some time upon
the compound radicals and substitution
products of coal tar. and had made number
of discoveries which were, as far as know,
of little commercial value. had been work.
ing for some time in my laboratory one even
ing, and was SO much interested in my work
that rushed off to supper without washing
my hands. During the progress of the meal
inadvertently got taste Of an exceedingly
sweet substance on my thumb, and il flashed
across me that had made something from
the coal tar which was far sweeter than
sugar. ran back to my laboratory and
proceeded to taste everything l had been
working upon. soon found the beaker which
contained an impure solution Of saccharin.
began to work upon this, determined its
chemical composition and characteristics,
and set about finding out the best method of
making this commercially. This has been
successful to certain extent, and compa-
ny has been formed to proceed with the man
ufacture of this substance
Il now feel that | am in position to say
that the manufacture of this new substance
VIII be the foundation of a very extensive
branch of industry. 1t has been established
that saccharin possesses, besides very high
degree OF sweetness, other valuable proper
ties which do not belong to cane sugar. and
very large field has been opened for it.
There are great many extensive manufac-
tories OF glucose, or starch sugar, in this
country, and this substance is used to a great
extent In replacing sugar; but, owing to its
being so much less sweet than cane sugar, it
cannot be used to replace the cane sugar en-
tlrely. by using very small proportion of
saccharlI with this glucose, it is made as
sweet as the cane sugar, and thus its use is
Iacilfsated greatly. IE fact, only one or two
parts OF saccharin mixed with 1000 parts of
glucose will bring the the glucose up to the
standard OF cane sugar in sweetness.
The cost OF manufacturing is ~asrslight
drawback at present, and with our present
facilities 1t cannot be sold for less than from
$40 to Sl2 per pound; but before long ex-
pect to see this price very materially re-
duced Even with the present price, a mix
ture of glucose and saccharin with ali the
sweetenlng powers of cane sugar could be
made at much less cost than the latter. The
use OF compound OF glucose and saccharn
Is not Injurious in any way. Although it
may not be used to replace sugar in every
instance, it will do SO in great many cases.
LIZ Is certainly bound to replace it where it is
USED as flavor, and bakers, confectioners
candy makers, distillers, and others will use
1t largely, as it will answer the same purpose
as cane sugar, and at much less cost Glu-
cose Is now used largely in the manufactures.
ana when 1t IS made as sweet as cane sugar
Dy the use OF saccharin, its use will be more
general. 1t is not food, and consequently
where sugar is used for that purpose, it will
not replace the sugar.
Saccharin Is derived from the hydro-car-
Dons OF the penzol series. and these products
exist in good quantities, so that the source
OF saccharin is not liable to become scarce.
and thus raise the price of it, Saccharine
crystallzes in short, thick prisms, small and
badly defined. 1t is soluble in cold water
Dut much more so in hot water. but from this
solution. can be readily obtained in crys-
talllne form. Grape sugar or glucose when
warm easily dissolves it, 1t is so sweet that
teaSpoonful converts barrel of water into
syrup. Taken internally II does not under
go any change and Is in no way injurious to
animal organism. 1t does not ferment like
cane or grape sugar, as it is a deriyative of
Denzolc acid. 1t possesses great antiseptic
properties which render it useful in a great
nany cases. It's marked sweetness is such
that used in very small quantities il will
cover up and disguise the flavor of the most
bitter medicines, and at the same time NOT
interfere with the action of the drug in any
way. Salts of saccharin are formed without
dificulty, but do not crystalline readily. and
In all cases they are nearly as sweet as the
saccharin itself. Their properties are about
the same as those of saccharin."
Many Of the chemists Of this city are inter
ested in this subject, and thetopinion is gen
eral that the saccharin is very valuable
article. Its use, it is believed, is certain to
be general, and in time it will replace cane
sugar to very large extent. The field for
its use in this country seems to be great. and
the inventor claims that it will revolutionize
the sugar industry. At the present abnor-
mally low price of sugar, il is almost impos-
sl0le for the sugar planters to make any
u0ney and the reiners are in many cases
working at loss. If this new substance
comes into general use the consumption of
sugar will be much smaller, and sugar rails
ing in this country is liable to be very seri-
ously affected. 1t has already been hard
pressed by the manufacture of beet-root su-
gar. In Europe the price of sugar is so low
at present that other uses for it are seriously
discussed, and the use of it for top-dressing
on land Is urged and in some cases adopted
The cost Of the manufacture of saccharin is
now said to be the only drawback to its sue
cess, and, as in the case of other valuable
coal-tar products, a much cheaper mode of
manufacture will no doubt bel devised